The Box Opens
by CyberHiker
Summary: Follows the story of Zer0 and Maya as they both land on Pandora seeking their fate. Some non-canon moments. Follows the story and maybe DLC if I have the time. Reveals much from their past (head canon). Focuses mainly on adventure and their platonic relationship. Rated T for mild language and some violent situations.
1. Meet The Heroes

**Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me. The settings, characters and story line belong to Gearbox. I am simply expanding on what they have created.**

**Note: The story will contain scenarios from my own head cannon that are expanded upon by some of the ECHOS found in-game, sometimes the text is copied directly from the game, to stay true to the story, but I add scenarios that do not occur in the game. Hopefully it will not be too dull :) I am also taking artistic liberties with Zer0's origin and the appearance of the other planets as well as some places on Pandora.**

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><p>Eden-5's massive glass and steel parliament building loomed ahead of him, its windows glinting in the last rays of sunlight from the twin suns.<p>

The assassin's visor flashed an ellipsis before he got to work climbing the conveniently designed facade.

"Fifty floors to go/Why do I need to strike now?/Stupid contract terms." He muttered to himself. Usually he chose his own assassination time, but the contract given to him through his middleman indicated the assassination must be done after sunset.

Below him loomed a huge chasm, filled with liquid propanol. Why such a volatile liquid was kept in proximity to such an important building was difficult for anyone to guess, he assumed they kept the chasm shielded.

The parliament was built on a heightened plateau overlooking the capital that itself had sprung up like a huge open sore of a metropolis in the dry, rocky landscape of Eden-5's central desert.

His lean muscles pushed him upward grabbing the footholds with deceiving ease. Of course he had turned invisible, shifting his skin cells to scatter and bend the light that hit them.

His specially modified suit maintained that illusion.

When the four-fingered hands finally reached the roof ledge, he decloacked and crouched low. The schematics he had removed from the dead architect's computer had shown him to a hatch, built in for emergency exits.

He knew exactly where to strike.

The hatch opened silently and the assassin glanced through the crack. A head with garish purple, flowing hair was bobbing about. The owner attached to a desk, listening to music.

"Ghosting." The apparition's whisper was inaudible. With conditioned agility, the assassin lowered himself into the room. His blade digistructed and with one silent "shick" sound, the president of Eden-5 lay dead at his feet.

"Now the challenge starts/Security will hunt me/But they are the prey." His deep voice arrogantly smirked before the door burst open.

He camouflaged while the unaware troop of guards started manically shooting the decoy he deployed. He saw their weaknesses light up on his helmet HUD and readied his sword to strike. He swiftly dispatched of the two guards in the back.

As soon as the other guards noticed, his holographic decoy exploded, catching them unawares.

"My reflexes grow/I can perceive every move/Their eyes slow and dull." Ghosting once again, he slipped in and out of reality, like a phantasm of death.

The ten troopers that were sent had fallen to the ground and the hatch quietly closed as if the wind had touched it...

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><p>The siren sat in her bedchambers, alert. The walls were draped with exquisite dark blue silk and kashmir. No light entered to betray the time of day. In her shaking hands was a tablet with PANDORA written in large letters over the top. She glance furtively at the stainless steel door in front of her and held her breath. The sound of footsteps could be heard approaching forebodingly in the distance.<p>

The woman heard brother Harker chastising the initiate.

"Our Goddess is meditating, any attempt to disturb her will be punished."

"Yes Brother Harker, I came simply to inform you that the criminals will be ready shortly..."

"Indeed, thank you."

The footsteps shuffled back and Maya breathed a sigh of relief. She cradled the tablet to her chest, remembering all the while what had transpired between her and the head of the abbey.

Brother Sophis had called Pandora the planet of convicts and cannibals. He warned her to stay lest Athenas itself fell into chaos. Then he added that there was nothing of importance connecting her and the mysterious planet. She never believed any of their bullshit, and returned to her room, as the head-monk had directed her.

The door suddenly swung open to reveal Brother Harker. The shaven monk bowed deeply and beckoned for Maya to follow him to the audience room.

"NO! Please NO!" A voice screamed bloody murder.

"What's going on? What is this?" The siren looked around confused.

"Today is a great day, Maya. Today your training is finally put to use." She couldn't believe for a moment as the blue-eyed Brother Sophis stared at the man tied on the floor with hunger.

"Who are these people?" She quipped, inquisitively.

"Terrorists. Criminals. Evil men. You will destroy them, as is your duty. This is what you have trained for!"

"What? To execute unarmed men?" Her anger started to flare.

"Do not question me, child! These men are a danger. Brother Harker, bring the first sinner forward."

"Yes, Brother Sophis."

"Oh God, not her-NOT HER!" The man wailed and kicked, trying to get as far away from Maya as possible.

"What is this man guilty of?" She demanded, rage barely contained.

"Do not question-" Sophis began.

"I promise-I'll pay! I'll get you your tithe, just don't let her near me!"

"What?" The siren bellowed with utter disbelief.

"Do not listen, child! Execute him!"

"Ah, to hell with it." In an act of courage, she phaselocked the monk.

"What are you doing, child? Put me DOWN!"

"Twenty-seven years. For twenty-seven years you've been using me to keep these people frightened, haven't you?" She seethed.

"You don't understand-"

"SHUT UP! You didn't want me to protect this planet. You wanted me to keep it scared, keep me locked up so these people would do what you asked. Nobody's gonna disobey the Order if they've gotta face the wrath of a Siren-is that it?!"

"You know nothing! Child, you have SO much left to learn. You don't-"

That was the final blow. Maya concentrated her elemental energy into the phaselock. Sophis screamed in terror as his flesh was burned alive.

"Don't. Call me. "Child." Everyone get outta here! You have nothing to fear from the order anymore-I'm leaving to Pandora. I'm gonna find some answers."


	2. Bored Predator

**Note: This chapter will focus on Zer0, our mysterious assassin friend and his escape to Pandora. According to Jack's ECHO logs in Sawtooth Cauldron, he had been roaming Pandora for weeks before being considered for the Vault Hunter position…**

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><p>The assassin ran and ran. The blaring sirens followed him everywhere he went, but of course no true killer enters his prey's den without an escape plan. A hover car was waiting to transport him to the abandoned spaceport in the middle of the desert and then, he would be on his way to Pandora, untold riches and challenges in his grasp.<p>

After gracefully leaping into the driver's seat, he floored the pedal, hearing the wind streaking past as he left the closing blast shields of the city's outer edges. The two massive steel behemoths met just after he passed through. He risked one small look backward and saw two giant autocannons digistruct on either side of the 200 meter wide doors.

"Cruise control is on/I'll just swing my rifle back/Might make extra kills." He mused. And so with the driverless car skirting over dunes at 200 km/h, the marksman dispatched of the two turrets in two hits.

"Child's play." And his head swivelled back to the wasteland before him.

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><p>"NOOO… My credits are drained!That backstabbing bastard spawn/He will pay in blood" The gravelly voice pierced the air in the empty landing port.

"Welcome to Pandora, we are pleased to inform you that the Hyperion Corporation is glad to extend its hospitality to any rich travellers seeking more fame and fortune. The remaining bandits will be eviscerated. Have a nice day!" A deceivingly happy female voice greeted the assassin as he was scanned into the New-U system. The last of his credits chachinged out of existence leaving him with nothing but his sword and sniper rifle.

He scrutinized the lounge he was standing in. It seemed abandoned, with the food counter storefront down and the lack of power to the vending machines. The color scheme was clinical with dashes of yellow and light blue accenting the chairs and walls. With his sword, he managed to cut open the machine and stuff his pack with water and non-perishables.

Never had he been this unprepared. But never would he have ever believed that his middleman would set him up this way.

"Snake let me rot here/Instead of leaving me dead/Stagnation is worse..."

With the pack on his shoulder, the blade and rifle hanging from his hips and a sizeable bounty on his head, the assassin opened the doors to the landscape outside. Grassy hills and bleeding sunshine greeted the pissed off killer.

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><p>"The Holy Spirits" and in small hastily painted letters: "(Roomz Avalble)". Zer0 knew this was the best he would find amidst the bandits and stalkers that roamed the place. He entered, his presence being noticed on the spot. Patrons swivelled on their bar chairs as his tabi boots tapped on the hardwood floor.<p>

"Rooms?" he asked the redhaired bartender whose lip quivered under a ridiculously shaved mustache.

"10 credits a night." He managed to squeak out.

"I have no money/Give me a job or close down/This is no warning."

"Oh no… Oh no... " the poor man looked like he would weep.

The woman next to him cleared her throat.

"There is a bounty on a bandit that lives in this town. He wronged the Zafords and is in hiding. You'll get a pretty sum out of it I'm sure." She squeaked timidly.

"Which house?" The assassin queried with a red "?" appearing above his head.

"L.. last house on the c..c..cliff side." The bartender stuttered.

Before he could even finish the word cliff, the doors swung shut and the assassin was on his way.

The house was only a few paces from the center of the town, that housed the bounty board. The bounty was a little steep for a lowly bandit, but Zer0 was not overly concerned with the challenge of the chase right now.

"How low I've fallen/Hunting refugees and scum/Living off of scraps." He scoffed and made his way to the house.

The four fingered hand knocked three times with no answer. "Pah." the expression said it all. He was less than content.

The door was not locked he realized as he slid it open. The house was empty with the exception of a few cabinets and a bed. Zer0 was not fooled. He kicked a cabinet to the floor and waited as a helpless man scrambled out of it.

"What the hell are you?" The man stammered.

"Why do you retreat? Face your end honorably/Make me work for it!" His cadence did not betray his supreme annoyance.

"Who sent you, his sister? His kids? Whatever they're offering, I'll quintuple it!." The bandit pleaded.

"This is punishment/His murder will be avenged/And I will be paid."

"For god's sake, what do you want? Just TELL me what you want!"

"For you to fight back/ Bandits like you are easy-"

"What the hell are you?!" The man eyed the door and started booking it.

"I want a challenge."

The blade rushed in and out before the man even understood that he had died.

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><p>Zer0 dumped the man's severed head right onto the bar's counter together with 10 of the 500 credits he had earned. None of them had moved a muscle until he disappeared up the stairs.<p> 


	3. Secluded Witch

**Note: Maya arrives after Zer0. She has never left the abbey in her 27 years and it shows...**

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><p>"Ok…" the siren thought to herself. "Should I do something with this asshole's corpse?"<p>

She looked left at the doorway that Brother Harker was clutching.

"Out of my way, grandpa. I have to get to the next shuttleport. Don't try anything or this will happen to you and all your buddies." She pointed at the burnt, fleshy remains of what used to be Brother Sophis. She didn't want to waste her time collecting her enemies parts.

Harker swallowed and let her pass through to the main foyer. The abbey was bathed in faint violet light. It's steel altar and walls contrasted with the wood finishings on the furniture much like the rest of Athenian architecture. The crystal front doors had been locked and set to opaque. With a flick of the wrist they burst open and revealed the green jungle expanse of Athenas before her.

Maya stepped out in her flowing robe and looked around. On the mountaintop, the abbey could view every location in the city. Interspersed around tall, white skyscrapers were smaller villas and complexes. She felt the lifeblood of the city pulsing, wondering how the people managed to live in such fear with the constant vigilance of the abbey on the mountaintop.

"Athenas will be much better off without me. I must find a shuttle to Pandora…"

She strode towards the gates and stared up at the tinted windows of the guardhouse. Without a word, the doors simply opened, letting her out.

The path down the mountain was winding and steep, but realness of it had Maya in a trance. All around her birds chirped, flowers and trees let out smells she had only ever read about. Out over the sea the sun set and the sky was sprinkled with cirrus clouds. The breeze carried over the voices of people and the hope of adventure. Never had the siren felt this alive. Her mouth curved at the corners; her smile radiant.

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><p>"Oh exalted one! Do not harm us, we would never incur your rage! Have mercy! We beg of you!" The shuttleport attendant half-prayed.<p>

"Please calm yourself. I need to get to Pandora. I was never a goddess, only a tool in the claws of that miserable Order. Let me go, and I promise nothing will happen to you." Maya replied.

"Yes mistress. Pandora. I will do as you command. The shuttle is at the dock. It is automated with all the facilities you could desire. Here, my credits." The attendant bowed and offered her card to the siren.

"I thank you, but please don't call me mistress. No one commands your life but yourself."

"Yes mistress..."

Maya arched her eyebrow, nodded her head and left towards the dock. The shuttle was relatively small, it had space only for three or four people. It seemed like Pandora was not a very popular destination.

Shrugging she entered the airlock and a robotic voice greeted her.

"Welcome to Pandoran transit lines. Please take a seat and enjoy our complimentary amenities which include: medical facilities, food dispensers, ECHOnet connection, restroom facilities and a gun."

The last one interested Maya. She had been warned by Sophis, but she didn't imagine that the situation was so dire that visitors to Pandora had to get themselves guns before arriving.

She sat on the cushy hornet-yellow seat and strapped herself in. Her anticipation did not settle even after several deep breaths.

"I'm in control now… It's as certain as the sunrise. No one can tell me what to do." The siren thought as the shuttle took off.

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><p>With a Maliwan SMG in one hand and the tablet in the other, Maya jumped out of the shuttle landing bay lounge and looked out into the distance. She needed a reference point and she thought to begin with the first town she spotted on the cliff ahead of her. Pandora was less… glamourous than Maya had convinced herself it would be. After the Atlas and Dahl corporations had abandoned the planet to bandits and mangy settlers, most places were rundown and falling apart. She trekked through the grassland and up the cliff, trying to attract as little attention as possible.<p>

Suddenly, Maya heard a whiplash as a sharp spine was seemingly flung at her from nowhere.

"What the hell?!" She panicked and frantically looked around, but was greeted by silence. To her right, a strange creature materialized and lunged straight toward her.

"Bed time!" Maya yelled and phaselocked the Stalker, burning it in the process.

"I should get out of here before more appear." she muttered as she raced towards the town, her hand on her gun.

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><p>"Hmmm, literacy doesn't seem like a priority here…" the Siren chuckled as she saw the sign under The Holy Spirits bar. It was getting darker and she thought of this as a stroke of luck.<p>

"Maybe someone inside will know something about the Vault…"


	4. Would you like some fries with that?

**Note: Yes I count on my fingers for Zer0's haikus… ****(^_^;)**

**I'm sorry that this update came so late… I was busy with family and honestly the story just didn't cross my mind.**

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><p>Zer0 scanned the shabby room. There was a dingy mattress without a frame in the corner near a small window overlooking the highlands. Opposite the window stood a rusty desk and in another corner a small washroom. He entered further and locked the door behind him. This day had been disappointing to the killer to say the least; his credits drained by a meddlesome go-between and his skills untested. But, being marooned on Pandora did have its benefits. An abandoned planet like this was ripe with creatures and bandits, one would just have to persuade the natives to give up that information. With this thought in his mind, he freed his back from the sniper rifle and laid it out carefully on the table. It was an old, reliable Jakobs Muckamuck. Its balance of destructive power and accurate aim made it the perfect weapon. For all the digistructing in the world, a rifle could never get better maintenance than a full manual cleaning and so the assassin went to work.<p>

Beside closed shutters and a kerosene lamp, Zer0 took off his gloves and began opening his gun. The glaring yellow light made the dark grey of his hands take on a startling appearance. His methodical ritual continued when the rifle was reassembled and put on the floor next to the mattress. The blade tasted blood today and had to be sharpened and polished. With the gleaming blue edge exposed, he breathed a content sigh and stood up from the chair. Though he hungered for blood, his stomach begged him for sustenance. Perhaps he could satisfy both today.

The assassin turned around and headed out the door smoothly, locking it from prying fingers. After a short flight of stairs the outworlder looked upon the bar again.

"Hunh…" Zer0 perused the menu which was mostly filled with skag meat and synthetic compounds.

He decided to take a seat near a not too particularly good looking fellow.

"Hohohoho - look at THIS freak!"

"Shaddap Zeke… Whaddaya want... ninja-guy?" The barkeep tried to salvage the situation.

"I desire a challenge."

"PAHAHA By the way your fruity ass talks it seems like you're plenty challenged!"

"Can it Zeke! Sorry, I swear its impossible to keep that boy's mouth shut."

"You would consider it a challenge then?" Zer0 ignored to barkeep.

"Uh… I guess…" Zeke's brain cells were under visible stress.

With a swift sword strike, the assassin decapitated Zeke's head."

"HOLY YOU CUT OFF HIS HEAD! Why, why's your helmet say zero?"

"He was no challenge. My skills have not been tested. I need something more."

"Uhm, uh there ARE some pretty dangerous bandit clans…"

Zer0 knew all about these 'bandits'. They were like flies.

"No."

"The creatures around here…"

"No." Zer0 remembered the stalkers on the way to the inn. They were absolutely no match.

"Uhm… uh… the Vault?"

"...Go on?"

"Uh alien power! Lots of danger! A real challenge… no… HUGE challenge!" The barkeep stammered the sentence out.

"This is intriguing. The vault, my masterpiece? Challenge accepted!"

Finally there was something this dirtball planet was worth coming to. Through all his long years as an assassin he could count the number of worthy adversaries on the fingers of one hand (and he had less fingers than average).

"My stomach rumbles. Bring me ribs cooked rare. And single-malt, neat."

"Sure man." The barkeep nodded as if his cousin in law hadn't been shot five minutes earlier.

Zer0 figured that this was typically Pandoran. People's lives were not a given. One had to contend with lives being lost at any given moment.

As he sat on the bar-stool he thought about where he could possibly find the vault. He might try raiding a Hyperion outpost and looking for information. Or he might take off after some bandits to see whether they had any information. His weapons were prepared and that was all that mattered. He could feel a good hunt on the wind, and he would not be deterred from his prey.

The barkeep returned with a pewter plate and a translucent glass full of whisky.

"Here, man. That would be five dollars…"

Zer0 placed the change on the counter and silently rose from the stool. He yanked the plate and the glass from the barkeep's hand and swiftly maneuvered toward the stairs.

The corpse was slumped over the counter and started to attract some flies. The barkeep glanced from the disappearing ninja toward his cousin and sighed.

"Man, I really hope this day doesn't get any worse."

The front door was ripped open and in ran a blue-haired woman dressed in a yellow skin tight top and cargo pants. She had gashes on her forehead and a book hanging by her side. Most peculiar of all was her exposed arm, over which tattoos glowed and pulsed.

"I saw that you had rooms available?" She panted at the barkeep. "I need one and a medkit. Some food would be appreciated too…"

He rolled his eyes and forced a smile.

"Yeah, of course just tell me what ya need."


	5. The Joker

**Thank you guys for the kind reviews! I promise I have not forgotten the story, but I have suffered from some writer's block.**

**Just some notes for this part: It is hinted that Tannis and Zer0 know each other and since Tannis made some groundbreaking discoveries on the nature of Eridium, the Vault and Sirens, she might have shared some of that knowledge with Zer0. **

**I want to write Zer0 as a mostly serious badass with a sense of humor. I know that sentence makes no sense, but I guess one of those personas will win out in the end. Hopefully his character development won't be too inconsistent for you guys.**

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><p>The siren shifted her glance around the bar and settled for the stool furthest away from the fresh corpse.<p>

"Hey, umm... what happened to him?" She asked the quiet bartender who sighed and rambled.

"Some hotshot ninja guy decided he wasn't worth his oxygen and impaled him. Poor Zeke, but what's a guy supposed to do? I can't fight off customers! Ah well, at least Zeke payed for his beer..."

Maya stared at a half finished beer bottle. Her upper lip formed a disturbed sneer and she turned her head to the menu to the wall on her left. Whoever did this was ruthless and she hoped not to cross paths with them. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and chose the only item on the menu that didn't look like it would make her spend tomorrow on the john.

"Uhh, one skag skewer and a salad please… and some of what erm… Zeke… was drinking." Maya figured booze was the only thing safe to drink here; there was no telling where the water came from.

"Yeah sure…" the bartender replied, but the way he tapered off made Maya look up. He was staring at her, entranced, his brain almost audibly whirring. "Hey, those markings on your arm, you're one of them Siren's aren't you?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"Did you know there are only six of em' in the entire universe at one time? Some fella came in here and told me all this. You'll be a lucky charm…" He went back to preparing the food and muttering to himself.

Slightly freaked out by the awkward situation Maya palmed her SMG and looked around the establishment. Most of the patrons were badly concealing the fact that they were staring at her exchange with the barkeep. Some stared into their cups, others were fiddling around with their belongings. Her gut feeling was whispering something to her. When the man returned with her food, she practically threw the change at him and grasped the plate from him.

"I hope it's ok if I eat upstairs, I'll bring back the plate…"

"Sure honey. Don't mind yourself." His eyes gleamed at her like a warning light.

Maya left the bar area and climbed the stairs as calmly as she could. She found an empty room with a window and locked herself into it. Her hands shook with hunger, but something was telling her that the food needed to be inspected. Deft fingers searched through the meat and found a softgel.

"Hunh…"

"You're smart to inspect. /These are cleverer bandits./ They won't confront you." A figure materialized on the windowsill. It was male, clad in some sort of grey lightweight armor, with a rifle on his back and a sword handle on his side. The helmet that obscured his face was cracked and well worn.

Maya started said nothing, backed up towards the door and reflexively phaselocked the guy.

"What gives you the right to sneak up on me?" her voice cracked and her eyes widened as she trained the gun on the specter.

A hand touched her arm.

"You don't have a right./ Prey doesn't deserve a right./I'm not your hunter…"

Maya yelped, but the assassin silenced her with the other hand. Panic was evident in her eyes, landing here on this strange planet, with strange people wanting gods knows what from her; it was too much. Now this killer who could appear from nowhere had her in his grasp and though she felt no aggression from the gesture, she did feel a certain helplessness. This was day one, and she was already trapped.

"You will eat your food./ And then we will leave from here./ They want your head, witch."

"And how do I know you don't want it either?" she grumbled.

"I would have killed you before you'd even noticed me."

A little ;) emoticon appeared over his holographic visor.

Maya supposed that this was true, but she knew that certain people may have wanted her alive more than dead. For the moment, she decided to feign ignorance and let the assassin lead her, it would be impossible to escape him now, but she would find a way.

Once the assassin let her go, she cautiously brought the food towards herself and started to tear apart the skewer. A few very silent minutes later, under the watchful eye of the hunter and she had given the plate a thorough rinsing.

"You will bring the plate/ back to those stupid idiots./Pretend you're tired." Another emoticon, this time a :P was rendered onto his visor. She had no idea what the assassin found so funny about the situation, but she did as he told, with her SMG ready to go on her hip.

As she descended the stairs, she could hear a very badly concealed shuffling. All the patrons were slightly wobbling, as if they had just started what they were doing (mostly staring into their bottles and awkwardly lighting their cigarettes). For the love of all the books she cherished, she couldn't understand what he thought was so funny about all this.

"Here man, the plate. Could you make sure no one makes too much noise upstairs, I'm feeling a bit tired…" she quickly placed the plate in front of the barkeep.

"Of course, I'll tell anyone who walks up those stairs to be quiet. You take care now." He smiled a little too widely, which Maya's current awareness could easily explain to her.

"Erm, you too!"

She skipped back up the stairs and entered her room again. The assassin was nowhere in sight.

"What the hell? Where did this bastard go?"

"Hah, I am still here./I'm not illegitimate!/You hurt my feelings!" Zer0 was hanging upside down from the ceiling rafters with a :'( emoticon displayed.

"And you're under reacting. We should get going now! I don't want to wait for them to sneak up in here."

"Ah! But who said anything about escaping? We will leave this place./ Through the best place: the front door!/ You're coming with me."

Now Maya understood, to him this was all sick a game of cat and mouse with her being the cheese.

In a mock gentlemanly gesture, he held out his hand. When Maya refused he grabbed her and pulled her through the door.

"Arck…" said Maya.

"And I disappear…" said Zer0… and that he did. The poor Siren was left to her own devices again, just in time to hear the clanging of boots going up the stairs.

As the group of unprepared bandits headed around the corner, Maya gulped.

"Good evening Gentlemen."

"What the hell?" A bigger guy at the front of the convoy exclaimed. "Hey Zeppo, you told us she was gonna be asleep."

"Can it idiot, she's a freaking siren! She'll burn you alive!" another voice yelped at him.

"Uh, I can explain…" Zeppo the barkeep stuttered.

"Yeah right, it's bedtime bitches." Maya growled with fake confidence.

She phaselocked the first guy she saw and jumped into cover behind a door. Guns had been loaded and bullets flying everywhere. Her shaking fingers gripped the SMG and she shot off a few of the closer bandits. A bullet clipped her side and she winced in pain. With her head slightly out of cover she managed to phaselock another bandit and tether his life force to hers.

"Ok here goes…" she whispered and drained his life so that she could mend hers. The bandit screamed bloody murder until he died a withering husk on the floor. The bandits hesitated and stopped their shooting. Only a quarter were left after the phaselock spewed acid and slag all around the dead bandit. A few moments later, the rest had their heads rolling around the floor. Zer0's bloodied blade found itself back in its sheath and he wandered over to the Siren.

A 勝 flashed above his helmet and Maya wordlessly pushed past him, down the stairs and out the door.


End file.
